The Thing About Kraków

Many people were curious as to why I chose to go to Poland for my next holiday. They weren’t sure why it appealed to me. It’s not the sunniest of places, and it’s not as touristy as Spain. Others who knew me thought it was a quest to find out where my late Grandad came from, or a journey of discovery to find my roots.

As much as my Polish roots gave me an incentive to visit, I am much more drawn to quiet, unsung places. Places full of history and hidden gems, but not places that are so obscure it’s hard to get around.

Going away at the beginning of September usually means that children have gone back to school and flights are cheaper. Honestly, it was as if we had arrived slap bang in the middle of Summer instead as it was almost unbearably humid for the first few days. It was also so so so SO rainy.

Luckily my friend and I had a hotel instead of a hostel and I discovered room service for the first time (and BOY, I don’t know why I’d never used it before). We could have beers, dressing gowns, meals, slippers, and even an Xbox or a Playstation sent up to the room. Did we overuse it? Probably. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

Polish food is underrated. I’m not the bravest when it comes to food but luckily my friend will eat literally anything, so I could use him as a human guinea pig. The pierogis (dumplings filled with a variety of things) are amazing, and although the food looks quite plain, it’s actually full of flavour. They had these little buffet things where you could fill up your plate with food and pay for the weight of it at the end, which is brilliant when you’re experimenting with new cuisine.

I did discover what I wanted to find while I was here- The Harry Potter cafe. After walking up and down the same street several times and tentatively asking many different people, we found the hidden but also obvious place for geeks and tourists alike. The Butterbeer is INSANE. London, take note.

Although there weren’t as many things to do as other cities, we saw what we wanted to see, sampled almost every single Polish dessert, and I think I now know some Polish words- just don’t ask me to spell them.